Yes, I wroteMickey Cohen, the book on the Los Angeles underworld that reveals the REAL STORIES of LA’s mob bosses, BUGSY SIEGEL and MICKEY COHEN. And, yes, I do plan to watch TNT’s MOB CITY, on Dec. 4. I’m curious! It’s again about cops…again, chasing gangsters in LA. Why are always focusing on the POV of the LA cops…who in reality were notoriously corrupt! It was really FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, himself, who was at war with Benny Siegel in the year before the Bug’s execution in June 1947, not local law enforcement. That story is amazing — and you can only read it in my book.After the poorly received Gangster Squad movie, in the summer of 2013 Mob City was granted a shooting schedule that essentially gave them a chance to rework whatever they had already shot the year before. Since I have no interest in cops, I will comment on the kid playing Mickey Cohen, who looks like decent casting. Ed Burns as Benny Siegel? Burns may be good; we shall see. To be correct, the actor should be OUTRAGEOUSLY handsome — not just good looking. Dressed like a duke, Ben Siegel was extremely charismatic and could be devastatingly charming. He had huge crystal blue eyes and he flashed a giant grin. Burt Lancaster-ish, no? Tony Curtis worked for years trying to play him and would have been great. I reveal here for the first time that Siegel had affairs with both Golden Age screen goddesses, Ava Gardner, and Lana Turner, when each was very young. AND Mae West!!!I don’t know what to expect, but I hope the Zombie guy, Frank Darabont, will deliver something historically correct. Remember: Truth is stranger than fiction. Particularly in this case.

UPDATE: This show was not picked up. My favorite thing: Ed Burns. He was terrific as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel.

The latest TIME magazine has me enthralled. Charlie Rose interviewed the author of this piece, Jeffrey Kluger, who showed an incredible video of a highly intelligent, 29 year-old Bonobo ape named Kanzi.

Millions of radioactive boars are now living in southern Germany. They are the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 25 years ago! It must be rather like Hollywood in the forests of Bavaria; there are millions of wild bores running around LA, mainly radioactive.

Accused in 1977 of sexually assaulting an underage girl–the Tinseltown hopeful was handed over to Polanski by her mother–then taken to Jack Nicholson’s house for a photo shoot that culminated in what was alleged to be a sexual assault. The Academy-Award winner (Best Director for The Pianist–in absentia) fled LA just before sentencing & has been living, exiled in Paris all these years. I know Polanski, and hope this great artist is finally left alone. The current DA, Steve Cooley, is using this old but still high profile case to garner publicity to win state office. The victim has long ago dismissed this old news: why can’t the politicians and press?

Huge carbon clouds, blk & dirty, are floating all over the world. They’re from the industrial mess in China. During the mid-90s I spent time there, in my incarnation as fashion designer. They put their best faces on when doing business. Constantly In the company of young English-speaking translators & execs–smart, funny, curious– during downtime I would be taken to non-stop 10-course meals at exotic restaurants. Working in an industrial zone, on a few occasions I saw the mess hidden behind the factories. The Chinese are ravenous–they can’t get enuff of Western lifestyle!!! Economic growth has been the ticket out of poverty and isolation. The pollution caused by China is a FAR GREATER PROBLEM than imagined. It will come home to roost. A free Tibet & pollution safeguards will not happen!!! & THE CO-DEPENDENT RELATIONSHIP W/ THE US WILL NOT STOP!!!

Moving on to LA. The million trees Mayor Villaraigosa proposes for LA are not the iconic palm (HIS PEOPLE said nix) but dirty, disease-prone sycamores. I’ve lived w/ both. Palms are it! Someone w/ an “in” & a million sycamores probably got a sweet city contract??? No???

Homegrown or WHAT??? Terrorism? About the elections or what??? You can never tell. A woman said she felt the blast 44-stories up…They are investigating here in LA. KNBC reported a local man is a person-of interest. The FBI is all over his house, off the Sunset Strip–in the upscale Mount Olympus neighborhood. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: The LA man-after thorough investigation-HAS BEEN CLEARED.